I declare resumed the period of sessions of the European Parliament , interrupted on Thursday , the 7 th July 2005 .
Next allow me to make a statement that refers to the events we experienced this summer .
As you will remember , on the past 7 th July , during our last session preceding our vacations , we were startled by the terrorist attacks that hit London , the victims of which , as we feared that time , were very numerous .
The terrorist threat to Europe continues and it is a problem to which the events of July and those that followed will oblige us to give a special significance .
But this summer was also marked by other tragic events : the persistence of terrorism in Iraq , terrible natural disasters , and accidents making many families in the world mourn - particularly here , in Europe , and now very especially in the United States .
You should know that , all along this summer , every time there was anything of this kind happening , our President , in the name of the European Parliament , immediately gave testimony of our solidarity and addressed the authorities of the countries affected by these dramas .
Every time anything happened , we let hear our voice .
And today I think that it is good for all of us to associate , globally , with the grief of the families of the victims of those events , of those who lost their beloved in the deadly conflicts troubling the planet .
Special mentions deserve the United States , which are suffering today a drama of surprising dimensions causing commotion in the whole world .
The number of victims will , as it looks , be very high , the displaced people are computed by the thousands , and the economic damage and the wounds in the social structure are huge .
In Iraq , terrorism kills , drop by drop , many people every day .
Put a stop to the rumour , as happened a few weeks ago , when a panicking movement on a Baghdad bridge cost the lives of more than thousand people .
Dramatic accidents of civil airplanes and helicopters brought death to more than 400 people in Indonesia , Greece , Venezuela , Peru and the Baltic Sea , and also in Afghanistan , where European soldiers - in this case Spanish , but they could have been from any other European country - died in a helicopter accident .
I think it would be right to remember now the words the President of Afghanistan , Karzai , addressed to us when he emphasized here , in this Assembly , the important role the troops of the European countries are playing in the defence of human rights and in the maintenance of peace in his country .
There was more : disastrous floods in Austria , Germany , Bulgaria , Romania , and Switzerland took the lives of dozens of people and displaced hundreds of thousands inhabitants .
Severe economic damage due to an excess of rain one half of Europe and severe economic damage due to the terrible drought the other half of Europe is suffering , a drought nurturing forest fires , especially in Portugal , France , and Spain , that cost the lives of dozens of people , among others those of firemen and airplane pilots participating in that fight against the flames .
The imprint left by these environmental injuries due to an excess of water , in some cases , or due to its lack , in others , will be very difficult to efface , and should remind us of the fact that the violence of these phenomena is a consequence of disequilibria to which the European Union paid special attention and will have to continue doing so .
Ladies and gentlemen deputies , in front of most of these dramas , the European Union demonstrated its capacity for mobilizing and bringing aid quickly to the victims .
Our capacity of prevention and of action has to be put at the service of a sensitive attitude .
Our Parliament will have the opportunity of debating this question starting right today , within the frame of the Commission 's Statements written down in our agenda , and soon we 'll have to legislate about reinforcing the air security .
This short review of the dramatic actuality of this now ending summer allows me , now that we meet here again , to ask you for one minute of silence to express our solidarity with all the victims and to let them know our most sincere sympathy .
The final agenda project for the present partial session period was distributed , as approved by the Conference of Presidents in their meeting of past Thursday , 1 st September , according to articles 130 and 131 of the Standing Order .
For Monday and Tuesday , no modification request was submitted .
Therefore , the agenda will be the one you know for Monday and Tuesday .
Wednesday : As a consequence of a debate that took place in the Conference of Presidents , the Group of the Greens / Free European Alliance asked to add Mister Brok 's report on the Council 's decision proposal concerning the signing of the Additional Protocol to the Agreement by which an association is created between the European Economic Community and Turkey , as a consequence of the extension of the European Union .
Account taken of the prolixity of the subject , I think it 's necessary for somebody to explain this request .
Mistress Frassoni wants to do it .
The European Popular Group asked to replace the debate on the situation of political prisoners in Syria by the human rights in White Russia issue .
Thank you , Mister Poettering .
I am sure the presidents of the political Groups will take good notice of your petition and so they will attend to it when establishing the agenda of the following partial session period .
According to our agenda , next we go over to the one-minute participation requests , which we shall continue developing according to the instructions I informed you about by letter , and which , little by little , are allowing us to develop this point in a more organized way .
Mister President , ladies and gentlemen , I would like to call your attention to the case of Francisco Larrañaga , Spanish and European Union citizen sentenced to death in Philippines .
Lamentably , a few weeks ago , the Philippine justice reconfirmed this citizen 's death sentence , and the countdown clock is already started ; we know the trial was riddled with irregularities and Paco Larrañaga 's defencelessness is a reality , as several witnesses declaring in his favour stated , because they had seen him somewhere else on the same day and at the same time the crime imputed to him took place .
But now what is fundamental is to save Mister Larrañaga 's life and all institutions should make their little contribution to this just demand .
Ladies and gentlemen , a citizen of the European Union is going to be killed , and we ca n't stay quiet in face of a violation and deprivation of any citizen 's first human right , which is the right to live .
Therefore , I invite the Presidency of this Parliament to get urgently in touch with the Philippine Government and with the President of that country and ask them to have her grant Francisco Larrañaga clemency to prevent this Spanish and European citizen from being executed .
Thank you very much , Mister Iturgaiz , for calling the attention of the Presidency to the situation of this citizen .
We shall inform ourselves about this case , and if pertinent , we would act in consequence , following your reasoning .
Mister President , as the Environment Commissioner reminded us , this summer we in the European Union were victims of disasters caused by fire and by water , and while some regions see themselves seriously threatened by a progressive desertification , others , by contrast , fear the floods .
It is a proof of European diversity and of the necessity of being sensitive to the realities of others .
In different member States of southern Europe , fires caused losses of dozens of human lives , the evacuation of entire populations , and extraordinary ecological damage .
It is true that we are suffering a year of drought , but I think it unacceptable to resign ourselves and hide behind fatalism .
On the contrary , it is our responsibility to analyze the underlying causes of the catastrophes which recur year after year , and to find out what we are doing wrong , or simply what it is we are not doing .
Therefore , the European Popular Party Group proposes to create a temporary commission in our Chamber .
This commission should evaluate specific measures we could adopt within the European area , contributing to complement those already being started by the member States .
Fire does n't stop at national borders , therefore we should have a European fire fighting protocol available ; we should consider , at least , the creation of a specific European agency , and why not , of specialized trans-national bodies .
Mister Commissioner , twenty-four hours sometimes can be too much time .
Without prejudice of the role to be played by the European Solidarity Fund , I think we would be wrong if we limited ourselves to raising funds every time there is a fire .
We have to go further : for example , the European Commission , with the support of the Council , eliminated the aids to the farmers for creating , cleaning up , and monitoring fire barriers , something that , maybe , should be reconsidered .
Mister President , these are some of the proposals we would appreciate in this temporary commission the PPE-DE Group is proposing to be constituted in our Chamber .
Mister President , sure enough - others said it before me - this Summer 2005 , two natural phenomena , the devastating fires and violent floods , caused destruction and the tragic loss of human lives throughout the European continent : in the member States , in some candidate countries , and also at our closest neighbours , like Switzerland .
In its Resolution , the socialist Group wants to pay , in the first place , sincere homage to those victims , and express solidarity with their families and with their friends .
In our Resolution , we socialists note that these disasters are not an isolated fact , but a fact which recurs year after year , revealing structural causes in its recurrence , among which would be the climate change , but also others , such as , for example , agriculture and agricultural uses .
In its Resolution , the socialist Group appeals to European solidarity , not only through an immediate economic commitment , asking the Commission to mobilize the Solidarity Fund , but also through other medium - and long-term measures , such as the creation of a European civil protection body or of a European drought observatory , or else , ladies and gentlemen , by setting up an initiative report .
We think this would be more effective than a temporary commission , and would seal the commitment the European Parliament , too , has to accept , not only urging other institutions , such as , for example , the European Commission , to work , but working itself as the legislator , in this case through its different commissions , which could produce a joint study which , as I say , could be summarized in an initiative report on the forest fires and on the natural disasters periodically devastating our continent in the summer .
Of course , ladies and gentlemen , the European drought observatory would be a tool favouring knowledge , reduction , and monitoring of the impacts drought has in Europe .
Mister President , I am thankful to Mister Weber for his readiness to dialogue and search for agreements .
Honestly , I think democracy is basically a regime of public opinion , and therefore , its quality will depend on the quality of what we would call freedom of expression , which is a right not everybody understands too well .
For me , freedom of expression is , above all , every citizen 's right to choose the information channels he prefers .
Therefore , to safeguard that right , it should be avoided to have many media in few hands , and I completely agree with you , Mister Weber , on the necessity of fighting the concentration phenomena , but it is also necessary to consolidate the non-submission of the communication media to the criteria capriciously dictated by the political force just in power .
Ladies and gentlemen , from these considerations , which are very general from my point of view , some specific points may be derived , which I would like to become reality in a not too late future .
We have to fight all those initiatives which lessen the quality of the freedom of expression ; therefore , it is not admissible to try to interfere in the program contents .
Beware us from doing it .
In my opinion , we should n't tell the commercial televisions how to administrate advertising in their channels , because advertising is fundamental for commercial televisions .
They have to comply with the limit established by law , but we should n't tell them how to distribute it , because they know well enough how to make the engine of their commercial survival profitable .
Mister Weber , you have to set yourself a political objective - and here it is where we most disagree - of finishing with a concept that looks perverse to me : that of the public service .
That concept makes sense as far as the radio-electric space is limited , and therefore the governments have to regulate it by means of a system of administrative concessions , which finally become intimidating .
But , Mister Weber , you admitted that we are going towards a world where television has to be redefined , where television is the conventional television we know , but also the television for Internet , the television for mobile phones , and the television for any new technologies .
Therefore , it is not a scarce good , and we have to restrict the interventionism of the State .
I would be pleased if in a not too far off future that public service concept would n't be attributed to commercial televisions .
And in consequence , I would be glad if we were capable of reaching an agreement when redefining the role of public televisions , which are fundamental , provided they attend to the subsidiary responsibility principle , this is to say , make the programs the spectators wish to see and ca n't see on commercial televisions .
Mister Weber , this is the subsidiary responsibility principle I 'm defending .
Definitely , and to finish , Mister President , I think that technologies are changing , and hence , sure enough , the perspectives are changing , and it is our responsibility to work to the utmost to make of the new Directive " Television without borders " an opportunity for improving the quality of democracy .
Therefore I would like to utter my wish to get it right .
Mister President , in the first place I would like to express my congratulation for the revision of this Directive , because it updates some provisions of the Directive Television without borders , specifically those concerning the promotion , the distribution , and the production of television-broadcast programs .
The market ca n't solve by itself the problems of the sector concerning television contents , and furthermore , technological advances should n't be kept out of the existing regulation .
Therefore , it is necessary to review periodically the articles of the Directive as a whole , in order to prevent the technological development from becoming a synonym of chaos and safeguard the maintenance of the fundamental principles of the current Directive - among others , I would like to highlight the protection of minors and the control of violence .
In view of the fact that the shares of European programs are in their majority covered by national programs , I fully support the speaker in the defence of the initiatives for voluntarily rising the quota for non-national European plays , and I support the proposal of establishing more effective mechanisms for having the legislation of the member States respected and controlled .
Account taken of the fact that audio-visual public services are the keys to the creation of a public opinion , contributing to cultural diversity and pluralism , and helping to create the awareness of a European citizenship , I would like to emphasize the importance of learning languages for a broader access to pan-European audio-visual channels and programs .
I would also like to say that the reviewed Directive should safeguard the development of new technologies and new services , in order to ensure the growth of the European economy and the creation of employment , according to the Lisbon strategy .
Finally , it is necessary to watch over the pluralism of the media , preventing the adjudication of licenses not complying with legality , as well as concentration , implying a threat to democracy .
The cultural diversity , liberty and pluralism of the communication media should continue being the most important elements of the European audio-visual model .
According to our agenda , we proceed to the debate of the Council 's and the Commission 's statements on freedom and security : answers to the terrorist threat safeguarding the citizens ' rights .
Mister President , to define and identify what the political role of the European Union and of its institutions should be in the fight against terrorism constitutes , in my opinion , an absolutely non-deferrable objective of this Presidency of the European Union .
This I say not moved by a Europe-supporting reason , but this fundamentally constitutes a necessity for each of the nations suffering the terrorist phenomenon .
It is a necessity to make emerge the profound feeling of the Union , it is a necessity for all of us , for all Europeans , and it is a necessity , because if the European Union does n't know what role to play in the fight against terrorism , the question will come up : what is the European Union good for ?
If for fear there is no union , and that 's the European Union , what is the European Union good for ?
And obviously , that would mean not only a failure for the European Union , but also a waste for the European nations , which will not know how to use the value of the Union to fight a phenomenon like terrorism .
The European Union should be an essential political element in the fight against terrorism , especially for the Ministers of Domestic Affairs .
I know that Ministers of Domestic Affairs have many emergencies , they need many instruments and tools , but I think that one of the first emergencies in this European Council you have before you is that you , the Ministers of Domestic Affairs and of Justice , learn how to give an impulse to a European political project and learn to find a usefulness and an efficiency for the European Union in fighting terrorism , because it is you who will need the Union most during the following years .
I am talking about a political project of the European Union , not about a full list of measures which , in the end , we are unable to communicate .
Of course we have to favour from the Union the measures on biometric data , to which Mister Clarke made reference , or , without any doubt , the data preservation or , without any doubt , what the Ministers of Domestic Affairs need , but we have to put the emphasis on the political dimension , on the dimension of a European political project .
In this Parliament , we dedicate much time to talking about technical and juridical measures , but very little to the political effort the European Union requires for fighting terrorism .
We ca n't continue building the house starting by the roof ; we have to give the indispensable political dimension to the action of the European Union .
And where can we find that European political project ?
I want to say that , in front of the Islamic terrorism , the terrorism of those who pretend to defend the Islam , the terrorism of Al Qaeda , what 's important is to understand that it is an emergent phenomenon , of which we ignore almost everything : the cadence , the timing , the way they are choosing the nations where to perpetrate their attacks .
We ignore this .
What we need is a European political project based upon the information and the intelligence for getting acquainted with the phenomenon and diagnosing the organization we have in front .
We have to be able not only to take measures , but also to make the European citizens know and understand what we are doing .
We do n't dedicate our time and political effort to saying what we are doing and the European citizens do n't know what the European Union is doing .
